I know, I know. I committed the sin of all blog sins: not blogging for a month! (I know the 5 readers in my family will be heartened by my comeback.) Frankly, it’s been a month of reassessment. The good news is that I went to the gym a couple of days ago and plan to go again today. I walked exactly one mile, it took 20 minutes, and sad as that is compared to how fast I was moving 6 months ago…. well, I’m over 6 months pregnant and hitting that home stretch where you might as well be exercising with a pile of library books in your arms or a few bags of flour strapped to your belly. I did lift some weights and did some big muscle groups (shoulder press, leg press, etc) and now I look like this woman. Kidding…

I’ve been meaning to blog, but the last few weeks have encompassed the following: a family trip to San Diego, including a 5-hour flight with a 3 year old and 15-month-0ld. My husband’s major knee surgery the morning after our return (we’d been waiting 9 months for a go-ahead and the doc called us on our first day of vacation). A visit from my SIL who’s been stationed in Iraq for a year. Massive teething on Toot’s part that motrin didn’t seem to take care of. And I came back from San Diego with a weird virus that attacked my muscles — every rib muscle, every finger muscle, and of course all the bigger ones for good measure — and meant that I could barely lift an empty plate or mug. I’m better now, but for a week things were pretty hairy. 

So I’m here, slowly getting back to the gym. About to brave swimsuit season at our neighborhood pool — which for the most part is occupied by moms in various states of pregnancy or postpartum, so it’s not that intimidating, really. And I’ve taken time to reassess what this blog was, is, and will be. It feels as if the last several months have been more about beating myself up for not exercising or struggling through my prepartum depression (which is much better now). I do want to push on through, but how inspiring can a blog be when it’s mostly about coping with difficult issues? I need to think through this to figure out just how I want this blog to be, for myself and for anyone who’s reading.

So I’m realizing that for full accountability with this plan that I need to actually plot a serious and for-the-real course of exercise, weight management, etc…. So upcoming posts will show stuff like (gulp) my weight over the next year as it rises through pregnancy and hopefully falls again, my gym goals and how I’m doing hitting my targets, and other stuff like diet issues.

I started working out 2 weeks ago, weighing 148 by the gym scale. I made it to the gym 4 days this week, one short of my goal. I MUST do better about weekend workouts — usually I can make it on Saturday, but Sunday tends to be my day of sloth rest. Anyway, as per the gym scale a few days ago, I weigh 146. I’d weigh less, I think, if my pregnancy cravings didn’t tend toward, for example, last night’s pie and ice cream.

Also: please don’t be hatin’ when I post numbers like this. Everyone has her optimal weight, and I know mine is about 130, which I can reach when I do about 45 minutes of brisk walking (or 30 of running) on the treadmill, 5 days a week. At that weight, I feel strong and healthy. Your healthy set point may be more or less than that, and you may have more or less to lose than I do. The point is to encourage each other, and my numbers are just one easy way to measure success.

Meanwhile, I’m popping Zofran every 4 hours to try to keep the nausea at bay. (I’m one of those people who is pregnant the whole 9 months, throwing up every 20 minutes or so otherwise. Fun for minutes!) Trying not to beat myself up over my scandalous pie and guacamole cravings. I’m serious — I’m dreaming about avocados and blackberries.

Anyway… I need to figure out how best to track my goals. A spreadsheet? I’ll check my fitness magazine sites, too….

I was rarin’ to go: I signed up for a fitness bootcamp. I bought new sneakers. I bought some workout clothes. I bought copies of Shape, Fitness, Women’s Health, and more. I got up at 5am, ate a banana and drank some water, and went to the local Catholic school campus to run, do jumping jacks, bear crawls, star jumps, pushups, situps, stretches, more running, more pushups, planks, more running… you get the idea. On the 4th day I was able to button my pre-pregnancy jeans! They were my former “fat” jeans, but still. A nice jumpstart to my weight loss efforts.

Then, 3 weeks into the 4-week bootcamp, I got a stress fracture. Y’all, I died. The pain was bad, but I also had to spend November up to Christmas hobbling around in a boot or just lying on the sofa. 6 weeks of doing nothing but catching up on the last season of “Lost.” I was distressed and depressed.

But the boot came off just before Christmas. No more Frankenstein-like gait! Now I’m climbing gingerly back on the exercise wagon. Join me!